1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally semiconductor lithographic technology, to solid-phase synthesis of microarrays of bio-polymers, peptides and peptide structure, and synthetic organic chemistry.
2. Background Information
Microarrays of oligonucleotides, peptides, proteins, and or oligosaccharides continue to gain importance as powerful tools for research and diagnostic applications in the biomedical sciences. Oligonucleotide microarrays can be used to monitor gene expression and discover genotypes and mutations in a massively parallel manner. Proteinaceous microarrays provide the ability, for example, to characterize the molecular progression of disease, research cellular pathways, and perform high throughput screening in drug discovery applications. Peptide-containing arrays can serve as molecular probes for a variety of biological events, such as for example, the arrays can serve as antigens for antibody-antigen systems, ligands for cell receptor-ligand systems, and substrates for enzyme-protein systems. The ability to collect large volumes of information is an integral part of biomarker discovery and personalization of medical treatments. Further, other applications in bioscience, such as for example, the analysis of the proteomic content of an organism, disease detection, pathogen detection, environmental protection, food safety, and biodefense are capable of benefiting from tools that allow rapid multiplexed interrogation of analyte samples.
As the genomic and proteomic knowledge base expands and the drive toward personalized medicine continues, so does the need for methods to collect, understand, and apply biologically relevant information. Methods, such as analyses using microarrays that allow the use of small volumes of sample for highly multiplexed analyses, are valuable tools. Thus amplifying the value of methods that provide for the controllable automated manufacture of arrays.
One challenge that exists in the design and implementation of peptide microarrays is the tendency of peptides synthesized in vitro and on solid surfaces to adopt random conformations. Three dimensional molecular structure often plays an important role in determining biological function. The random conformation adopted by a peptide synthesized in vitro is not necessarily a biologically active conformation.